The present invention concerns semi-continuous passenger transport systems using passive vehicles, in which non-motorized vehicles are driven by means of successive driving tracks along a closed circuit serving at least two stations, at a cruising speed between stations and at a slow speed past embarkation and disembarkation platforms within stations, appropriate transition areas being provided at each end of the aforementioned platforms.
In resorts in mountainous areas, certain cable car transport systems are semi-continuous according to the definition set out in the preceding paragraph. The presence of supervisory personnel and the slow speed of vehicles during embarkation and disembarkation of passengers reduces the risk of accidents occurring during these operations.
A number of semi-continuous transport systems for urban use are currently being developed in France. Issue No 53 (September 1978) of the Journal "Sciences et Techniques" discusses these in an article entitled "Le point sur les modes de transport nouveaux en France" ("New transport systems in France--a survey"). The systems discussed comprise:
"VEC", Company "SAVEC", covered by Patent No 70.45238, for example; PA1 "POMA 2000", Company "POMA 2000", Patent No 71.12413; PA1 "DTILTA V", Company "HEF", Patent No 75.05206. PA1 signalling the fault condition, PA1 stopping the track driving the vehicle affected, PA1 stopping other tracks in the station, PA1 slowing and stopping transition tracks on the upstream side, PA1 rerouting and parking vehicles, PA1 stopping cruising speed tracks,
These systems have more ambitious objectives than cable cars: increased traffic handling and limitation of supervisory personnel through more extensive automatic control. System reliability and passenger safety thus raise new problems.
The maximum capacity of a semi-continuous transport system is achieved when in the minimum speed sections (embarkation and disembarkation) the vehicles are in contact with one another, most often following on from one another at intervals of a few seconds. Unless special arrangements are made, stopping one vehicle stops the entire system.
Embarkation into a moving vehicle means that passengers have a specific time within which to embark. Any distraction, the wish to avoid being separated from other passengers and being inconvenienced by packages carried are all factors which can result in passengers finding themselves in a dangerous position, especially at the end of the platform.
It would seem that the only automatic system guarding against this hazard currently known is that of the VEC system, comprising a pivoted barrier at the end of the embarkation platforms. If a passenger attempting to embark too late comes into contact with this barrier, the complete system is shut down, considerably reducing its efficiency.
If the vehicles are fitted with doors, which enhances passenger safety, then impediments to the closing of the doors will constitute a major new source of fault conditions caused by passengers. This hazard is already well-known in connection with elevators and is likely to be all the more serious in the case of semi-continuous transport systems which require passengers to embark on vehicles in motion within a limited time interval. Elevator manufacturers have developed many systems for detecting these fault conditions and delaying departure of the elevator until the fault condition is cleared. This operating method is not validly transposable to semi-continuous transport systems in the current state of the art, as stopping one vehicle results in the complete shutdown of the system with all the attendant repercussions with regard to the complexity of operation and efficiency of the system.